


Keep Your Demons Caged

by SamiferAndDestielAreMyOTPs



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-01-23 18:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1576007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamiferAndDestielAreMyOTPs/pseuds/SamiferAndDestielAreMyOTPs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas has his friend Emily over for the day, meanwhile introducing her to his older brother, Sam, but when they go into the woods near his house they find a box. Cas mistakenly opens it and unleashes a demon that none of them are sure they can handle. Not to mention the fact that the demon knows about what happened in Sam's past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfiction I've ever written and pretty much finished, so if this sounds really childish, I apologize. I mostly made this to get out my emotional angst for Sam and his awesomeness. I suppose this counts as AU? I was bored at like 2am and had the idea for this story so...  
> If you have any suggestions for improvement, feel free to leave a comment or something.
> 
> I know the chapters are really short, they seem longer in a Word document, so I'm trying to edit them and give them a little more content, it's kind of still a work in progress.

         It was a normal day for Emily, at least, normal for a 16-year-old girl. She had awesome plans to spend the day with her best friend Castiel. They hadn't actually hung out much, but their personalities clicked almost instantly. She didn't know a lot about his family, since they usually weren't there when she went over. So she headed out to Cas’ house, carrying a tote bag jammed with games and snacks to last them for most of the day.

      Her brown hair swung as she brushed it out off her shoulders, blue eyes glinting in the sunlight, as she walked up the sidewalk to Castiel’s house. She had picked out her outfit, black tank top and matching shorts, knowing that she and Cas would be inside for nearly the entire day.

         Emily knocked on the door, and she expected Castiel’s nerdy face to be in the doorway, so as the door swung inward she had her fist raised to playfully punch him in the shoulder as a greeting. To her surprise, in the doorway stood a giant. After her eyes adjusted, she realized it was, in fact, not a giant, but an extremely tall, ridiculously handsome guy. He had soft-looking brown hair that almost touched the top of his broad shoulders, brown eyes, and a questioning look on his face.

         Emily tried to say hello, but her voice strangely decided to shut down for the moment, and she stood there awkwardly staring at him, noticing the plaid shirt he wore that hugged his broad chest. A minute went by, what seemed like forever, until Cas elbowed his way into view.

         “Hey dork, I was wondering when you would get here. Oh yeah, this is my brother, Sam,” he said while gesturing up to the still-serious face of the giant, Sam, “You probably haven’t seen him because he always hides in his room and messes with computers all day. Sam, this is Emily, my new dorky best friend.” He nudged Sam out of the way and grabbed Emily’s arm lightly, pulling her into the house, saying “Come on, I got some new games for my computer, and you should see the awesome mansion I built in Minecraft.”

         Sam still hadn't said a word, but his eyes had never moved from Emily’s face since he opened the door. It was almost like he was inspecting her. She felt a little self-conscious, but also flattered at the same time.

        As Cas lead her through the front room and towards the back of the house, she shyly waved to Sam, and before she passed through the doorway his arm lifted from his side to wave back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you find any mistakes, because I changed this over from a first person POV to a third person POV, let me know about it so I can fix it and so this story doesn't sound so lame...

         After being shown multiple new role-playing games on his computer, most of them of the magic-and-dragons sort, Emily pulled out a few of the video games she had brought over. They were wrapped up in Grand Theft Auto 2, when there was a loud sound from Castiel’s front room. Emily paused the game, which elicited a groan from Cas, but she ignored him and poked her head out of the door, from which she had the perfect view of the front room. Sam was sitting on the couch surrounded by piles of papers and with a large laptop on his knees, typing away furiously. All of the piles of paper were perfectly neat except one, which looked like it had just been messed up and reorganized. She assumed that he had spilled the papers and that the thump she’d heard was him sitting back down on the couch.

          Even though her brain had already figured out the source of the noise, Emily’s eyes were still locked onto Sam’s face, tracing the outline of his jaw, the way his hair flowed and hung in front of his face, which was fully lit up from the laptop’s brightness. She could see nearly every detail in his face, and was losing herself in the curves of his lips when Sam's eyes darted her way for a split second, not really seeing her, and back to the screen. A moments hesitation and then he brought his eyes back to hers, fully noticing her staring, and his fingers abruptly stopped typing. Emily didn’t know how to break their gaze, and she felt a little uncomfortable that he had caught her staring at him, but he was still staring back. She glanced down for a second, blood rushing to her cheeks, and when she looked back up at Sam there was a small smile on his lips.

          Her own lips parted, most likely to stutter something, but at that moment Cas decided to say, with unnecessary loudness, “Hey, what are staring at out there, dweeb? Come on, we have a game to play.” Emily smiled back shyly at Sam, and then quickly turned back into Cas’ room.

          She sat down with a huff next to Cas and picked up the dropped controller, wanting to resume the game and act like that hadn’t just happened. Cas stared at her with a weird, questioning look on his face before hitting the unpause button, and they were back to shooting and stealing cars in no time.

* * *

 

        After four, almost non-stop, hours of gaming, the sun a bright oranges-red light in the window, they threw down their controllers in exhaustion.

          As Emily rubbed the soreness from her eyes she suggested to Cas, “Do you want to go outside or something? I could use some fresh air after being in here kicking your butt the whole time.”

          Cas scoffed at her and responded, “Yeah, I think you got that a little backwards, since I kicked YOUR butt. But sure, we can go outside. There's a fun patch of woods behind my house, I like to explore it sometimes.” They got up from the floor, both stretching their cramped legs out, and walked out past the front room. Sam was still avidly typing on his laptop, although he had gone from the couch to the floor, and his perfectly stacked piles of paper were now laid around him in a messy semi-circle.

          He looked up from his laptop as we went past, and it occurred to Emily that she hadn’t yet heard him speak the whole time she was there, until he said in deep, sexy voice, “Hey, where are you guys going?”

          Emily stopped in her tracks in surprise at how his voice vibrated within her bones like it belonged there. Even as her brain blanked out momentarily, she managed to remember not to stare at Sam again, although her brain momentarily blanked out.

          She caught most of what Cas was saying “-just going out to the woods in back, we shouldn’t be out too long. I wanted to show Emily around a bit, she’s never been back there.”

          When Cas said “woods”, Sam’s facial expression changed from nonchalant to a more serious and cautious look, which was accompanied by his next words, “Okay, well, just don’t stay out there too long, I don’t want Mom yelling at me for you being out too late after it gets dark.”

          “Yeah, Sam,” Cas rolled his eyes at his brother, “we’ll be back in like a half hour, okay?” Sam nodded, concern still in his eyes as he turned back to his computer. Cas was already walking away, but it took Emily a minute to unglue her feet from the carpet.

          Just as she was walking away, she heard “Hey…” She turned to see Sam looking at her, and the sound of the front door slam as Cas left vaguely echoed in her mind.

          “Just, uh…be careful, okay?” Sam said in a voice a lot softer than how he’d talked to his brother. Emily bit her lip and nodded softly, then turned towards the door to catch up with Cas. She could still feel Sam’s eyes on her back. As soon as she felt she was out of his eyesight, she ran through the door, wanting to catch up to Cas. He was standing by the edge of the woods, waiting, and he gave Emily a glance and asked, “Where were you? I looked behind me and you weren’t there.”

          Emily quickly looked down and toed the dirt at her feet, saying “Oh, I, um…laces were loose. Had to tie my shoes.” He didn’t respond, he just simply shrugged and walked ahead, entering the woods, with her tagging along behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

          “Sam is sort of afraid of these woods. He thinks there’s like demons or ghosts in them or something. He doesn't like when I come out here, after dark especially, but nothing has ever happened to me.” Cas swept branches away from his face, making his way through the woods like he knew every square inch of the place.

          “Well, he's your brother, maybe he just cares about you too much-“ Emily tripped on a tree root that seemed to have sprung up suddenly from the ground, and she managed to catch herself on a branch, not falling, but something on the branch cut into her left palm. She sucked air in through her teeth, making it sound like an inward hiss, and she clenched her hand into a fist, ignoring the sting of dirt that had gotten into the cut. The sun had sunk below the horizon, and just the last few rays of light pierced the evening sky as they traveled along a small, winding path.

          “Yeah, that’s probably true. It just gets annoying sometimes.” The ever-darkening sky unnerved Emily, and she didn't want to stay out there in the woods in the dark, but she wouldn't admit her fear of the dark to Cas. The chirping of birds died off as they went to sleep and was soon replaced with joyful crickets, enjoying the sweet summer air. An owl hooted somewhere above the two kids, but as Emily looked up she only caught the view of a shadowed wing in the trees. She kept her eyes on whatever path Cas was following, and, though she was sure he could see it, she had no idea where they were going. She tripped at least three more times and could no longer see where they were going; her hand was gripping tightly to the back of Cas’ shirt. Only the outline of the trees around them could be seen, but barely, the sky empty of moonlight. Emily tried not to pay attention to her surroundings as her breathing increased with every step taken.

          “Cas, I think we should go back, its really dark out here, and I can’t see.” There was a slight stammer in her voice that she couldn't control.

          “What, are you scared of the dark or something?”

          “No.” But she answered too quickly, making Cas laugh quietly, and then he stopped walking. She tried not to stand close to him, her hand still barely clutching the back of his shirt, but it felt like the forest was a huge dark cloud pressing in on her from every angle and it was suffocating.

          Her breath came in huge gasps, but Cas didn't even seem to notice her panic because he said playfully, “Well, then I'll race you back!” And in seconds he was gone, his footsteps a fading sound in the forest.

          “Cas, that’s not funny!” Emily screamed, and she ran after him, hoping she was going the same direction he was. Her feet pounded on the forest floor and her lungs ached from the struggle to breath with her asthma and through her cloud of anxiety.

          Too soon her lungs clutched themselves underneath her rib-cage as they desperately tried to pull enough oxygen in, and she had to stop running, hands gripping her knees. Her head swam in circles, along with her vision, but she fought the urge to faint. She knew if she fell down that when she got back up her sense of direction would be gone entirely.

          She didn't want to stop, her fear making her want to push forward, so she started running again, but then her toe caught on something, and she fell flat on her face, scraping her cheek against the hard ground. She moaned in pain and swore, feeling her cheek burn. _That has to be the tenth tree root I've tripped over,_ she thought. She remembered her phone was in her pocket, although it was almost dead, and she pulled it out to use it as a flashlight.

          She shone it down towards her feet, and just as the phone died she spotted a small box a few inches from her ankle, half buried in the dirt.

          She didn't have time to wonder why there was a box in the middle of the woods, because behind her there was the sudden sound of a twig cracking. In another wave of panic she snatched the box up and pocketed it, and then took off running once again. She was unsure if it was the panic chasing her down or something else, but she knew she didn't want to find out. She just hoped that she was heading back towards Cas’ house, and not deeper into the woods.

          


	4. Chapter 4

          Emily tried as much as she could not to look over her shoulder, but she couldn't help it. If anything was chasing her, and if she could even see it, she wanted to know if it was close or not.

          So as she threw another nervous glance over behind her, she slammed face-first into something hard that was blocking her path. Only this thing had arms. Arms that wrapped all the way around her shoulders and held her in a vice-tight grip.

          Emily’s heart nearly exploded from her chest in terror, as she tried to hit the thing that restrained her but failed to get free.

          Then she heard that voice, only it was closer, right next to her face and it vibrated against her scraped cheek. She couldn’t make sense of what it was saying, but it was so soothing that she stopped fighting. After the haze in her mind cleared, she finally made sense of the words.

          “Shh, Emily, it’s okay, you're safe. You're safe, Emily. Nothing can get you. Calm down, it’s alright.” It was Sam. She realized then that she was sobbing, and had gone from fighting the arms that held her, to gripping them for support. Even if her knees had given out then, she knew he wouldn’t let her fall. She felt Sam’s arms loosen their grip, but he kept one around her waist to support her as he guided her through the yard and into the house.

          She wasn’t as shaken when she was safely in the house, away from the terrifying woods. The solid walls around her assured her mind that the hazy walls of panic and darkness she felt in the forest could no longer reach her. As she sat down on the couch, which was now clear of all the papers Sam had had out earlier, Cas came into the room. He had a look of apology on his face, and it was so sincere Emily couldn’t bring herself to even glare at him.

          “Emily, I'm…I'm sorry.” Cas stammered, “I didn’t know you were actually afraid of the-“ Emily threw a sharp glance in his direction, and he cut his sentence short, quickly rephrasing it, “I didn’t mean to leave you alone. I thought you’d stay right behind me, but when I got back to the house I realized you weren’t there anymore. I'm sorry…”

          “It’s okay.”  Emily replied. She didn’t know what else to say, but then she remembered the box she had grabbed in the woods, and she pulled it out of her jeans pocket. She held it in her hands in front of her and felt Sam’s arm, still around her shoulders, stiffen in response to the box.

          “Where did you get that?” Sam’s voice had gone even deeper, and rough with his reaction was to the box.

          “I don’t know, I tripped over it in the woods when I was running from…something…” Her sentence trailed off, remembering the fear and panic, “Should we open it?” She asked, looking from Sam to Cas and back.

          Sam started to answer, but he caught sight of Emily’s swollen cheek. He reached his thumb out and stroked it, and she winced as it stung but didn’t move away. She didn’t have to look at Cas to see the questioning stare he was trying to burn into the side of her head. Sam’s fingers trailed away her face, so slowly she had to repress a shiver.

          A cold breeze came into the room, and it seemed to settle directly over Emily’s heart. Sam felt it, too, and they turned to Cas to see him holding the box, his hand on the open lid, but his face had gone entirely blank. A haunting voice floated from the box, and an invisible and enticing sensation clouded the room. A dark mass billowed over the sides of the box, and more of the whatever the dark thing was kept coming out, much more than it seemed could fit inside. It crept across the floor and Emily tried to pull her feet up onto the couch before it could touch her. It wrapped one tendril of darkness around her shoe, and she gasped as she the felt the icy-cold of it seep into her bones.

          That’s when the lights flickered out.

          As soon as the room had gone pitch-black, that’s when Emily felt it. She could _feel_ the darkness crawling over her body. It searched for the cold spot that was still settled over her heart, and it grabbed on with an unbelievable strength. She gasped, but it had taken the air from her lungs, so all that she could manage was a small breath before her throat closed tight.

          “Emily?” Sam grabbed onto Emily’s arm but something electric shocked his whole arm and threw him off of her, and her entire body was frozen in place. It was in every bone, every muscle, every tiny nerve of her. Just as she thought she could fight it with her mind, it dug its dark fingers into the depths of her conscious, and she lost full control of herself.

          For seconds it was nearly silent except for the deep murmurs of the demon that had come from the box. Sam and Cas sat tensed, waiting.

          It was Emily’s piercing scream that broke the silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for not posting for a while, there were a lot of revisions to make, I'm actual still fixing a lot of things....


	5. Chapter 5

         He knew what it was, and he wasn't about to let it take control over her. Sam had seen this happen before, when he was younger. It was what killed his brother, Gabriel.

          He didn't want to see it again.

          There was a thud as Emily’s body slid off the couch. The lights flickered on once, and she was lying on her side on the floor, unconscious. The lights flicked off and back on again, and she was gone.

          Castiel was still sitting in his chair, frozen with terror. Sam shook his shoulder a little, and he jumped, his shock wearing off. “

          Where…where did she go?” Cas stuttered, looking around nervously for Emily.

          Sam shook his head, his forehead creased in worry.

          “That thing that came out of the box…what was it?”

          “A demon. And that box was supposed to stay buried. It was 12 feet underground.” Cas stared at Sam in confusion, registering his words.

          “What do you mean…a real demon? Why was it buried?”

          “You know how Mom doesn't like to talk about our brother, Gabriel? That’s why. That box…that _demon_ is what killed him.” Tears welled up in Sam’s eyes as he remembered Gabriel; he had messy hair and sarcastic attitude. Sam pinched the bridge of his nose, choking back the emotions. “The night we lost Gabriel…it was a lot like this one. Gabriel was 12, I was 7, and Mom was at the hospital getting ready to have you. Gabriel and I went into the woods, like you and Emily, and it got dark. We found that box and brought it out of the woods to the backyard. We should have never opened it. I didn't know what it was until it got hold of Gabriel. I thought it was killing him at first, but it was just taking control of him. It twisted his voice into something hideous and truly evil, and it spoke to me through him, telling me terrible things. How my mother would never love as much as she did Gabriel, I would never amount to anything in life. I was begging for it to get out of him, but it wouldn't leave until it had scarred my mind with lies and hate. It left him gasping for air and bleeding out of anywhere he could bleed from.

          That night was the night that I had to hold my big brother in my arms and watch him die. Mom says she doesn't blame me for it, but I really think she does.” The lights flickered off and on again, and an evil, harsh cackle floated around the room on a cold breeze.

          “She _does_ blame you, Sammy.” It hissed, “Every time she sees you she thinks of Gabriel, and how you let him _die._ ”

          “No, you're wrong!” Sam shouted into the air “I won’t believe your lies this time!”

          “Who says I’m _lying_ , Sammy? Maybe you should learn to except the _truth_. It’s your fault that dearest Gabriel is gone, and all you have to blame is yourself!” At that last word, the demon grew visible yet undefined, appearing as a black rolling cloud of infinite darkness. It shot towards Sam, lightning fast, but he wasn't quick enough and it clipped him in the shoulder. It burned where it had touched him, and he grabbed his shoulder in agony. Sam couldn't focus with the pain, and he didn't know what the demon was doing then until Castiel screamed.

          Sam whirled around and there was Cas, enveloped by the demon, on the floor and writhing in distress, his screams having gone silent. Sam lunged toward to help him, but an invisible hand closed around his throat and kept him at bay. He stood there, completely motionless, unable to help as he watched Cas slowly stop struggling, and then finally go limp.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I haven't updated this in a while, I was busy and was having serious writer's block. But here it is!! The almost-final chapter, along with the final chapter after this. Enjoy!!

          “No…no…” The words barely crawled from Sam’s throat as he stared at Cas’ motionless body. The hand around his throat vanished, as did the black cloud surrounding Cas. Sam fell to his knees next to him, pulling his languid form off the ground and hugging him to his broad chest. Tears streamed down his face, and he had my cheek pressed into the hollow of Cas’ neck, when he heard something. He held his breath and it came again. Listening intently, Sam realized it was a heartbeat. Slow, and so faint it was barely audible, but he could hear it coming from Cas’ chest. Breathing a sigh of relief, he hugged him even closer, but his relief turned to anger as he heard that nasty cackle come from the kitchen. He lifted Cas from the ground and gently laid him down on the couch.

          Red colored Sam’s vision as he made his way to his room, one thing in mind. He pulled a box down from the top of the closet and took an old Colt gun out from it. Checking to see that it was loaded, Sam cocked the gun. The bullets inside were special, made specifically for killing demons, and it was the only thing he ever knew that could _kill_ one, instead of just repelling them.

          The lights still flickered as he went slowly through the front room, seeing no light coming from the kitchen. He peered around the corner and saw only darkness, but he could feel it waiting in there. “I know you're in there!” He shouted at it, “Why don’t you stop hiding like a coward!” He rounded the corner, and, although nothing appeared, he tensed, knowing it was there.

          Again, that tantalizing laugh rang out, ricocheting off the walls, giving away no position. The lights flashed on, just for a moment, and it was there, hovering over the stove. Sam aimed quick and shot at it, but it evaded the shot easily. _I can’t waste these shots,_ he thought, _these are the only bullets made for this._ There were only two shots left, and that meant he couldn’t miss.

          It was then that he heard a scream, and it was a a familiar one. It was the same scream that had come from Emily when she collided with Sam on the edge of the woods. Losing focus, he turned toward the sound of her in distress.

          It caught him completely off guard.

          Emily’s scream twisted into that dreaded, evil cackle. The demon had mimicked Emily’s voice, a cruel thing to do, but, of course, that was its nature. It was behind Sam and he spun around, but he was too slow, and it slammed him into the ground; the gun was knocked out of his hands, and it clattered noisily on the tile floor.

          “That was a dirty trick-” Sam couldn’t even throw out a sentence as he felt that hand at his neck again, emanating cold and chilling him to the bone. However, this time it wasn’t just restraining him, Sam knew this as it closed tight around his throat, choking him with an iron grip. He gasped, realizing that he might not get out of this alive.

* * * * *

          Pain throbbed behind Emily’s eyes, and, even though they were open, she could see only darkness. For a time, at least. She slowly recalled what had happened, the coldness engulfing her, Sam's voice fading into the empty blackness. She tried to move, but her whole body had gone numb, and it took her a while before she could reawaken her nerves and stand up. She was focused on keeping herself from falling over when she heard a loud crashing come from the kitchen. Fumbling around, she found the door handle and darted from the room.

          Realizing she must have been unconscious in Cas’ room, as she saw the little nameplate he had hung up on his door. More crashing, though not as loud as before, sounded from the kitchen. She headed towards it, but she spotted Cas laying motionless on the couch. Running to his side, her knees slid against the carpet as she hit the ground, burning, but she didn’t care.

          Emily put her ear against his chest, begging for him to be alive. His quiet but steady heartbeat filled her eardrum and she sighed with relief. She stood up, fingertips still resting on Cas’ shoulder, and scanned the room.

          _Where was Sam?,_ she thought worriedly. Thinking he might be acquainted with the abundance of crashing, she peered around the corner into the kitchen.

          Almost all commotion had stopped, except for Sam's huge form thrashing on the floor, pinned by that nasty black cloud of a demon. And it didn’t look like Sam was winning the fight, either.

          Silence rang upon her ears. The demon, in its swirling black form, was still wrapped around Sam.

          But Sam was no longer moving.

* * * * *

          “Don’t speak now, little one. I would save your breath for when you're screaming in agony for eternity in hell.” It hissed, so close to Sam’s face, and he was actually glad he couldn’t inhale what he imagined to be very rancid breath.

          Fear at the thought of him not being able to beat this thing, fear at leaving his loved ones to fend for themselves, crawled its way into Sam’s head. He wasn’t going to make it. He would be gone, and Castiel would be left all alone to help their mom with everything. And Emily…he didn’t know what would happen to her, if she wasn’t already dead. the thought of her lively, cheerful face as pale and gray with death brought a raging emotion into his heart. He had let them down. He had also let down Gabriel. This was supposed to be how he righted his own wrongs and avenged him. But he couldn’t even do that for him, and he felt pathetic, realizing that he had failed horribly.

          Sam’s cheeks were wet with tears, and he futilely grasped at his throat, thinking there was a chance he could pry the demon off. He couldn’t even feel its icy hands with his own. It was simply a black mist that he was incapable of touching, even though it could touch him.  

          Black dots appeared in his vision, and his leg twitched involuntarily, kicking the gun even farther across the room. He stopped fighting for air as the dots grew larger. All he could see was the doorway to the kitchen, and that was growing blurry by the second.

          Just before he blacked out, Emily stepped into the doorway, arms raised with the gun in her hands. She pointed the gun just above his head.

          A single gunshot rang out, followed by an ear-wrenching scream and hiss. The darkness overwhelmed Sam then, and he slipped into unconsciousness.


	7. Chapter 7

          Black, so much black, clogging his eyes so he couldn't see. It clung under the eaves of his mind, making his thoughts foggy. He tried to remember what had happened…

          _Emily._

          Sam strained against the blackness. _She’s hurt, I think. No, I'm not sure. But she could be. I can't let her be hurt._

          Sam tried to focus his mind, but he couldn't swipe the blackness off of it, like an annoying cobweb. He suddenly remembered being knocked to the floor by the demon.

          A small pressure on his chest distracted his mind from the darkness. It was something warm, comforting; a hand. And then a voice, so close to his face he could feel the person’s breath. He knew that voice…

          _Emily’s voice._

          “-answer me. Sam, come on, please answer me…” Emily’s voice caught on her words. “Please, I need you. I-” She cut off mid-sentence, and she sobbed, something wet dripping onto Sam’s arm. She was crying and he wanted to comfort her. But he still couldn't fight that darkness…

          An emotion overwhelmed him, set on by her tears. Strength welled up in his mind, and he used it to shove at the barrier of black. It broke, and his vision cleared, air rushing into his lungs. He inhaled deeply, gasping, and seeing Emily knelt over him, her face wet from crying.

          He tried to sit up, but his back was intensely sore from being slammed to the ground. In addition, Emily wouldn't let him; as soon as he tried to get up her hands were against his chest, attempting to push him back down.

          Sam wanted to ask her if Castiel was okay, and if she was hurt, but as each question flew through his mind he realized they were all unimportant. He didn't care, so long as she was alive.

          Lifting my arm from my side, he stroked the tears from her cheek and held it there. She put her hand over his and smiled sweetly at him.

          At this, he pulled her face down to his and kissed her, gently but with passionate emotion. His other hand went to her cheek, so that he cradled her face, and her fingers tangled themselves into his hair.

          Their breathing was a little more than heavy after they pulled apart, foreheads resting together. Sam's throat hurt with every breath, though he ignored the pain. He was sore from where the demon had crushed its clammy hands against his neck. He managed to pull himself off the tile floor, swearing a little at the pain in his back. _There is definitely going to be a bruise there,_ he thought.

          He stood, a little woozy, and then remembered Cas. “Is…is Cas okay?” He looked at Emily anxiously, biting his lip.

          She smiled lightly at him, “Yeah, he’s okay. He’s on the couch, he might still be pretty out of it though.”

          Sighing with relief, Sam made his way to the front room and saw Cas, eyes closed but with even breathing, lying on the couch just as Emily had said. He knelt beside him and put his hand on Cas’ shoulder. He must not have been too unconscious because he stirred at Sam’s touch, eyes squinting and trying to make sense of his surroundings. Blinking wildly, recognition crossed his face as he looked at Sam, and then Emily.

          “Did you…Is it gone? Did you kill it?” Cas’ voice was weak, he strained to get a simple sentence out.

          Emily nodded, Yeah, it’s dead, er, gone. Or whatever happens to demons. The point is we’re okay,” She entwined her fingers with Sam's and smiled, “All of us.”

          Cas rolled his eyes, “Come on, Sam, Can I ever have a friend to myself?”

          “No.” Sam's dead-serious face made us all burst into laughter, the stress draining from our faces and replaced instead with joy.

          “So, no more forest-wandering in the dark, agreed?” Emily said with a small smile.

          “Agreed.” Cas and Sam responded.

          And as they all smiled at each other, a low, menacing rumble started from the kitchen, throwing pots, pans and cutlery onto the ground, and as Emily’s head whipped around, she saw one of the steak knives flying straight towards her.

* * * * *

          Emily sat straight up in bed, panting in terror, sheets strangling her. She scrambled to pull her arms from the blankets, rubbing her hands together over and over, trying frantically to wipe off the phantom blood. Her breath came out in sobs, and she jumped when a strong set of arms wrapped around her shoulders.

          It was Sam, whom she must have woken up yet again. She felt bad, she’d disturbed him every night for the past week, always screaming from the same horrifying nightmare.

          Sam's thick arms secured flailing ones and she leaned into his embrace, sobs wracking her rib-cage. “Emily, shh, it’s okay, it’s not here and it can’t get you.”

          “It’s…everywhere…it’s everywhere.” She tried to control her crying but couldn't, still feeling her shirt soaked in blood and sticking to her skin, feeling it drip off her fingertips.

          Sam grabbed one of her hands in his and rubbed it soothingly, “Baby, there’s no blood, see? There’s nothing there, you’re okay.”

          Her sobs slowed as she saw that with each pass of fingers over her skin, the traumatizing image of her bloodstained hands faded, her pale skin showing through and breaking her haze of fear. She curled her fingers around his, her eyes running out of tears and starting to close in exhaustion.

          Sam hugged her to his chest and pulled her back under the blankets, comfortingly stroking her hair as her breathing returned to normal.

          Emily sank slowly back into a calmer sleep, even though one striking memory flashed behind her eyelids.

          She remembered seeing her reflection in a  mirror that hung behind  the couch, on which Cas had laid on that dreadful night. Her entire body was splattered with red, and her eyes were pitch-black as she held up the kitchen knife drenched in Cas’ blood, her face sporting a wicked grin that was not her own, a demon chuckle slipping from her lips.  


End file.
